Dan Grandinetti

This interview with Dan Grandinetti was conducted on June 30, 2025, at the Spark of Hudson building in Hudson, New York. Grandinetti was born in Hudson in 1967 and grew up on lower Union Street. Both his parents, John and Gail Grandinetti, spent time representing the First Ward on the Board of Supervisors. Dan represented the Third Ward before becoming the city’s Youth Commissioner in 2004. Later moving to Schodack, he spent 33 years working for the New York Office of Children and Family Services and now serves as executive director of the Columbia County Youth Bureau.

One of four brothers, Grandinetti describes the importance of family and sports in his early years. He shares memories of spending time at the Boys and Girls Club and St. Mary’s playground, working at Oakdale Lake and the skating rink, and playing football at Hudson High School, where he graduated in 1986. Grandinetti discusses his interest in city politics and his work as Youth Commissioner after the city took over the Boys and Girls Club, which became the Hudson Youth Center. He explains his vision for shifting public funding toward youth, arguing that investing in youth can keep them out of the criminal justice system, reducing future law enforcement expenditures. He identifies some role models who supported him as a young man and describes recent efforts by nonprofits and government agencies to bolster youth programming in Hudson.

This interview may be of interest to listeners who would like to learn about city government, the Hudson Youth Center (formerly the Boys and Girls Club), youth experiences in Hudson, and demographic and economic changes in Columbia County.

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